Meghalaya gets three oxygen plants to tackle Covid-19, courtesy Japan and UNDP

Meghalaya got three new oxygen generation plants on Tuesday, with assistance from the Japan government and UNDP, in order to tackle the Covid-19 situation.

The three plants were inaugurated at Tura, Nongpoh and Jowai civil hospitals, which can produce up to 800 litres of oxygen per minute.

Inaugurating the plants, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said Japan's assistance to Meghalaya highlighted the strength of friendship between India and Japan.

Five more oxygen generation plants are being installed in Nagaland and Tripura with the help of Japan and UNDP. The plants have the capacity to serve approximately 1,300 beds, said a statement issued by Embassy of Japan in India.

Read | India's Covid-19 vaccination pace seen dwindling from first day record

"As a good friend and partner of India, Japan is very happy to strengthen the capacity of health facilities in Meghalaya in partnership with UNDP. We hope that our contribution will help save more lives,” said the statement quoting Satoshi Suzuki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to India.

UNDP Resident Representative in India, Shoko Noda, said the agency was committed to support the government of India with support from donors, development partners and UN sister agencies. "I am happy that our several months of effort to procure, build capacity of hospital staff and set the plants up and running has come to fruition. Together, we can better prepare for future crisis,” Noda said in the statement.

Although Assam has sufficient oxygen supllies so far, the small states in the Northeast continues to struggle during the Covid-19 pandemic, given the rise in positive cases and poor oxygen supply capacity.